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Miscellaneous unorganized material/WTXL-TV
edit History WTXL-TV debuted in September 16, 1976 as WECA-TV, owned by local businessman E'vans '''C'raig 'A'llen. In the early years, its slogan was "We can do it!" -- a play on the call letters. By its fourth year of broadcasting, the station used the slogan "Up & Coming" 2. In 1984, Allen sold the station to Tallahassee 27 Limited Partnership, led by former Senator Joseph Tydings and former Congressman Lou Frey. They changed the call letters to the current WTXL-TV. The station's history page claims the new owners took over in 1985, but according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) files, the call letters were changed in 1984. As a result of the 2001 outsourcing agreement with Sinclair, WTXL moved from its original studios on Thomasville Road into the WTWC building in Killearn Lakes Plantation (on Deerlake Road) on March 17, 2002. On February 20, 2006, the partnership between the stations was dissolved after Southern Broadcast Corporation of Sarasota gave notice of termination to the agreement to Sinclair Broadcasting. As a result, WTXL moved out of the WTWC building and discontinued producing news briefs, severe weather cut-ins, and Today Show local weather updates for the station, which it had done since 2001. WTXL is currently broadcasting a high definition signal to Tallahassee residents over the air waves (channel 27) and on all cable systems in the region, such as Comcast. WTXL was renting studio space from Florida State University's PBS station, WFSU [3], with its master control operated off-site by Equity Media Holdings in Little Rock, Arkansas.[dated info] WTXL broke ground on its new facility on June 20, 2006 in the 10/90 Commerce Park in nearby Midway [4]. The station fully moved into the new facility in August 2007, debuting a news set with the same design as sister station WAAY, and becoming the first television station in the Tallahassee market to broadcast local news in high definition. WTXL's broadcasts have been digital-only since February 17, 2009. edit WB News at Ten On January 15, 2000, WTXL produced the first newscast for a local cable-only WB station, called the WB 28 News at Ten. [5] It was a 30-minute newscast which aired Monday through Friday and was produced and anchored by WTXL staff. The newscast aired only on Comcast cable ("WB 28" was an affiliate of The WB 100+ Station Group), and billed as Tallahassee's only 10 p.m. newscast. As the WB station changed channels on the Comcast system, the name was changed to reflect this; it was later called WB 11 News at Ten and then WB 6 News at Ten. The local WB newscast was cancelled in September 2003. edit Controversy *On June 2, 2006, a reporter and photographer from WTXL, photographer Phyllis Joy Ho and reporter Brandon York Beyer, were arrested in Doerun, Georgia for obstruction at the scene of a military helicopter crash at the tower of Albany, Georgia television station WFXL. They were booked at the Colquitt County Jail in Moultrie, Georgia, and later released on a $750 bond. All charges were later dropped.3 *On September 24, 2007, WTXL videojournalist/fill-in sports anchor Eric Thompson was issued a traffic citation in Panama City while providing coverage of the Martin Lee Anderson trial's jury selection process. 45 edit Digital TV The station's digital signal is UHF 27, multiplexed: '''Digital channels edit On-air staff edit Current on-air staff *News at Sunrise & Noon Anchor: Lenita Wesson (since 2008; 5 & 5:30 PM News Anchor 2003-2006, reporter 2006-2007) *Evening News Anchor: Anne Imanuel (since 2010) *Evening 6 & 11 PM News Anchor: Michael Dupré (since 2010) *Sports Director: Brad Dalton (since 2006) *Weekend Sports Anchor: Dave Griffiths (since January 24, 2010) *Chief Meteorologist: Casanova Nurse (since 2008; weekends 2003, weekday mornings 2003-2006) *Morning Meteorologist: Sean Parker (since 2009) *Weekend Forecaster: Greg Bennett (since January 24, 2010)[6] *Reporter: Abbey Phillips (since 2006) *Reporter: Patty Santos (since 2009) *Reporter: Jerry Hume (since 2009) edit Former on-air staff Main anchors John Joyce (1978-79) Mary Anne Loughlin (1978-81) *Lee Mainella (1978) (deceased) *Ken Lass (1978-83) (currently at WIAT in Birmingham, Alabama) *Jerry Brown (years unknown) (currently at WMBB) *Tom Campbell (years unknown) (currently at WRDW-TV) *Beverly Lewis (1984?-?) *Joe Larkins (1984-86) *Donna (Hicken) Deegan (1984-1985) (Mornings) (currently at WTLV/WJXX) *Allen Moore (late 1980s?) *Steve Ring (1993-?; 2000-2003) (6 and 11 p.m.) *Betsy Singer (mid 1990s) (currently at KAAL) [7] *Patricia Scott (1995-1997) (5, 6, 11 p.m.) (currently hosting a show called "It's All Good" on KPTS as Sierra Scott) *Kelly Harvey (1996-1999) (6, 11 p.m. Anchor) (currently in law school at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law) *Ethan Forhetz (1997-1999) (currently at KYTV) *Tammy Robiconti (1997-2003) (5, 6, 11 p.m.) (currently Director of Marketing & Public Relations for St. Petersburg General Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL) *Myra Monroe (1997-2001) (5 and 5:30 p.m.) *Tammie Fields (1998-2001) (Weekends) (currently at WTSP) *Sydney Fisher (?-2000) (Mornings) *Rod Carter (1990s) (Weekends) (currently at WFLA-TV) *Bob Trotter (1998-2000) (Weekends) *Rick Boone (1999-2002) (Mornings & 5 p.m.) (currently at KTXL-TV Sacramento, CA) *Shonda Knight (1999-2006: Reporter 2000-2003; Anchor 2003-2006) (Mornings) (currently at WCTV) *Cathleen O'Toole (2000-2003) (Mornings) (currently at WPBF) *Stacey Brenan (2002-2004) (Weekends) *Amy Basista (2002-2005) (5, 6, and 11 p.m.) *James Jackson (2002-2005) (Weekends, then mornings) (currently at WEAR-TV) *Robert Burns (2003-2006) (5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.) (currently the editor for the New Smyrna Beach Observer newspaper) *Lauren (Phinney) Dorsett (2005-2010) (Currently at WWSB) *Brandon Beyer (2005-2008) (Mornings) (5 PM News Anchor 2007-During sweeps only) (currently at KOCO) *Lauren Elise (2006-2009) (currently at WHNS) *Valerie Lacy (2007-2008) (Mornings, then weekends) *Rex Hodge (2007-2008) (Mornings 2008, 6 & 11 PM Anchor 2007-2008) *Marco Villarreal (2008-2010) (Weekend 6 & 11 PM Anchor) (currently at KTNV)6 Meteorologists/Weather anchors *Dan Hogan (1979-1980) *Mark Reynolds (early 1980s) (currently at WJHL) *Charles Paxton (1983-1984) (weekends) (now with National Weather Service Tampa Bay) *Connor Vernon (1984-1988) (formerly at KTBC-TV in Austin, TX. Currently at WTVY-TV) *David Neal (1988-early 1990s) (currently at WIAT) *John Scalzi (early 1990s-1995) (weekends) (Currently at WWSB) *Glenn Willey (1990s?) (currently at WTVD) *Justin Kiefer (1994?-1997) (currently at WMBB) *Dave Anthony (Cocchiarella) (?-1997?) (currently at Central Florida News 13) *Tom Siler (1994-2004) (Chief) *Gerald Brinkley (mid 1990s?) (Fill-in) *Mike Nichols (1997-2000) (Mornings) (currently at KBTV-TV) *Chris Zelman (1999-2001) (Weekends) (currently at WALB) *Mike Rucker (2001-2002) ("Director of Weather Operations") (currently works for the Wingate Inn hotel in Tallahassee) *Stephanie Abrams (2002-2003) (Mornings) (currently at The Weather Channel) *Jordan DeTillio (2002-2004) (Weekends) *Joe Sigman (2002-2006) (Fill-in) *Joe Smith (2002-2003) (Weekends) *Dave Priem (2003-2009; Fill-in 2003-2004, Weekends 2005-2006, Mornings 2006-2009) *Nancy Dignon (2004-2008) (Chief) *Craig Gold (2005) (Weekends) (currently at WPEC) *Don Harrigan (2006-2008) (Weekends) (currently at FSU for M.S.) *Matt Tanner (2008) (freelance/weekends) (currently at WAKA-TV) *Ed Bloodsworth (2008-2009) (freelance/mornings) (currently at KTKA-TV) *Jason Adams (weekends) (2008-2010) (currently at KFSM-TV) Sports anchors *Gene Deckerhoff (1976-1978) (original sports director) (Current play-by-play announcer for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Florida State University Seminoles) *Tom Mees (1978-1979) (ESPN anchor, drowned August 14, 1996) *Rich Lenz (sports director) (1980s) (Currently at KOTV) *John (J.P.) Peterson (sports director) (1987-1995) [8] (later worked at WTOG-TV and WFLA-TV; currently at WQYK-AM) *Dave Neal (early 1990s) (Currently with Fox Sports South and Jefferson Pilot Sports) *Wayne Evans (?-1997) *Tom Block (1995-1998) (Sports Director) (Currently with Florida State University and Seminole Radio Network and Sun Sports) *Mike Nabors (1997-1998) *Sean Woodland (sports director) (1998-2000) (Currently at WJXT) *Seth Grossman (1998-2000) *Matt Stitsinger (1999-2003) (Sports Anchor) (Currently works in the University of Louisville Athletic Department) *Preston Scott (2000-2006) (Sports Director) (Currently at 100.7 FM WFLA-FM in Tallahassee) *Jimm Patterson (?-2006?) (Weekend Sports Anchor) *Sean Smith (2006-2008) (Currently at WBAL-TV in Baltimore, MD) *Eric Thompson (2006-2009) (fill-in) *David Taylor (2008-2009) *Ashli Gehrmann (2009-2010) Reporters and fill-in anchors *Jeff Hager (mid 1990s) *Erika (Rikki) Ragland (1996-1998) (currently a model and actor with Ford Models; owner of the preppy debutante co. [9]) *Rudy Cooks (mid 1990s) *Keith Ingram (1997-1999) (currently owner "Number One Son Media", Fort Myers, Fl.) *Greg Davis (?-1997?) *Brittany Lund (1997?-2000?) *Thema Ponton (1998-1999) (currently at WMTW) *Kim Fettig (1999-?) (currently at WGCL-TV) *Ryan Young (2000-2001?) (currently at WSB-TV) *Sandra Edmond (1999-2001) (currently owner of Ardnas, Inc. [10] [11] and Board Member at CFRI [12]) *Kimberly Curth (2000-2002) (currently at WKRG) *Amanda Anderson (2002-2008)(Senior Reporter/Weekend Anchor) *Lisa Remillard (2003-2005) (currently at KTNV) *Carolyn Kluck (2004) (Fill-in Weekend Reporter) (currently at WTVJ) *Carley Wegner (2004-2005) (Friday morning entertainment reporter) (currently at WFTX) *Stacy White (2004-2005) *Brandon Tucker (2004-2005) (currently a writer/editor for Golf Publisher Syndications) *Todd Morrill (2005-2008), Weekend Anchor (2007?-2008) (currently at the Florida Channel) *Arnitrice Harrison (2005) (Fill-in reporter) (currently at Smooth Jazz WJZT 97.9FM) *Rebecca Baer (2005-2009) (Reporter) *Stewart Moore (2006-November 2007) (currently at WIS) *Alex DiPrato (2006-2008) (currently at WPRI-TV) edit News/station presentation edit Newscast titles *''Tallahassee's NewsChannel 27'' (mid 1990's-1998) *''ABC NewsChannel 27'' (1998-2006) *''ABC 27 News'' (2006-present; "HD" referenced since 2007) edit Station slogans *''Where News is First'' (1998-2004) *''On Your Side'' (2004-2006) *''Committed to you!'' (briefly in 2010) *''Dedicated to you!'' (2010-present) This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions. edit External links *Station Website *Query the FCC's TV station database for WTXL *BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WTXL-TV edit References #'^' Sinclair Press release regarding WTWC/WTXL outsourcing agreement, 1 October 2001 #'^' 1980 WTXL logo and slogan (bottom of page) #'^' [1] #'^' http://tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070925/NEWS01/709250340/1010/NEWS01 #'^' b-roll.net / Florida News Center: "WTXL Photog Cited While Reporting", October 1, 2007. #'^' Blanton, Christopher M. (2010-02-12). "Florida News Center >> Blog Archive >> WTXL comings and goings...". Florida News Center. http://flnewscenter.com/?p=1604. Retrieved 2010-04-09.